


Trees and Branches

by Doctor_Discord



Series: Trauma AU [13]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Blood, Insanity, Mental Breakdown, Mental Instability, Self-Harm, my bb's trying so hard....
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:21:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctor_Discord/pseuds/Doctor_Discord
Summary: The Host finds his way home. It doesn’t last long.
Relationships: The Host/Dr. Iplier
Series: Trauma AU [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739428
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Trees and Branches

The Host was a broken man.

By now, he had been for a while.

He was a _mess_ , bouncing from reality to reality in his head. Never the same one twice. Every universe had thousands upon millions upon _billions_ of branches – it was impossible to land in the same one twice. Every choice, no matter how big or small, created a branch. Reality was nothing more than a tangled clonal forest, every trunk a universe, every branch a different choice someone – _anyone_ – made. And the Host just wandered through it, idly running his hands over every trunk, rubbing every branch, straightening their leaves. Other Hosts sometimes sat beneath their trees, though sometimes it was an Author. They never seemed to notice the Host. He was fine with that.

But, someday, he was bound to find _his_ reality.

The one he truly belonged in.

The one where the Actor came.

The one where he went mad.

The one where everyone was _broken_.

The Host had elected to hide out in his library. He hadn’t gone down there since – well, since the Actor came. It was a little dusty, and it’d take forever for him to get it back in shape, but it was _so familiar_. No matter what universe he was in, his library was always laid out the same. Bigger, or smaller, sometimes, but the same.

He felt sick. He felt _numb_. He felt so many things he no longer felt them. It was confusing and too much, he could _feel_ the pieces of his mind sliding around, and he clung to the trunk of the tree as he felt a tug trying to force him away. He wanted to _stay_ here. He _hated_ it here, but it was _home_ , and he didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to be broken, didn’t want to be the mad prophet who’s futures were shattered.

He dug his nails into the bark of the tree, red sap making his fingers slick but sticky.

He dug his nails into the sensitive flesh on the inside of his sockets, blood making his fingers slick but sticky.

He _sobbed_ , nails digging deeper and deeper into the bark, deeper and deeper into his flesh, trying to _ground_ himself. He wanted to be _here_ , he wanted to be _home_ , he didn’t want to be in some grand temple filled with books, or some teenager with a lost twin, or anyone else or any _where_ else but _here_. 

Here was painful.

Here _hurt_.

But here was _home_.

He wanted to be home…

He clawed his nails deeper, scraping across the bark little by little as a violent wind tore through the forest, trying to force him from where he clung.

He dragged nails across his own flesh, blood immediately welling in their wake. He didn’t feel the pain. He only felt the wind trying to force him away.

“Host? Are you down here?”

The Host didn’t hear Dr. Iplier’s voice. He was too busy clinging desperately to the tree, nails digging deeper and deeper. His hands shook. There was so much ~~blood~~ sap. Red red sap, coating his hands as the force of the wind forced him to strip bark away from the trunk. _Please let me stay, I just want to stay, I’ll never find this tree again PLEASE_ –

“Host?! Host – _oh my God_ – Host, _please_ , let go of your – oh God oh God oh _God_ – _HOST!_ Let go of your sockets, you’re – how long have you been like this?!”

The Host didn’t reply. Didn’t hear the desperate cries. Didn’t feel Dr. Iplier frantically trying to get him to _let go_ of his sockets. His fingers were curled tight within, nails embedded deep in his flesh, but all he saw was the tree, all he felt was the wind, _please don’t make me let go_ –

Dr. Iplier yanked his fingers out of his sockets, ripping flesh, blood spraying everywhere.

The wind grew worse, and the Host couldn’t hold on any longer.

He was blown back with an agonized cry, _hurtled_ through the forest, screaming all the while.

The Host _screamed_ , and Dr. Iplier panicked, staring at the bleeding body of his broken husband, red covering both their hands.

The Host’s back connected _hard_ with the trunk of another tree, miles and miles away from _home_ , and his head snapped back, the back of his skull hitting with equal force, and his vision danced and faded as stars flashed before him. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

He made a winded sound, slumping against Dr. Iplier, unconscious.

When he woke again, it was with a goofy little smile, oblivious of the bandages thicker than usual wrapped around his head and the gauze stuffed into his sockets as he wandered through the forest once more, lingering under a tree where the world was happy, the egos were whole, and no one ever bled.

**Author's Note:**

> *nervous sweating* I don't remember how to tag....  
> Anyway, there's only two more stories left in this horrible horrible au akjsndfk dw XD
> 
> Tumblr: doctordiscord123.tumblr.com


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